Sunday, March 31, 2024
The 70s
Friday, March 22, 2024
Short Stories by Ellis Peters
A hitchhiker is caught in a murderous web.
His whole life, William Banks has been trying to escape his mother, who wants desperately for him to become a lawyer. Banks wants to paint, and when he gets the opportunity to attend art school in the next county, he jumps at the chance. It’s only forty miles, but it’s a start.
Getting to class, however, will be a deadly proposition. On his way there, Banks is picked up by Alf, a down-on-his-luck crook who has dreamed up a plan involving a fire, a burned body, and a dead hitchhiker. By all rights, Banks shouldn’t live to see morning, but a stroke of luck—and a very helpful village girl—help him escape death without his ever knowing he was in danger. Caught up in a bizarre case of missing identity, Banks must think quickly to save his own life—once he finally realizes someone is trying to kill him.
First Published January 1, 1976
This novelette is more of an adventure with a bit of comedy. It has a little mystery and lots of dead [bad] characters. The women in this short story are more prominent specially the wife of the bank robber. She is formidable both physically and mentally. The setting is 1970s but she wears a 60s bouffant hairstyle, think Amy Winehouse. The wig (hair extensions) adds 4 inches to her height and when she removes it for the night, it sits on the dresser looking like a Pekinese. LOL
The Assize of the Dying
In The Assize of The Dying, a defendant in an English courtroom is sentenced to death for a terrible slaying he insists he did not commit. Rising to his feet, Louis Stevenson places a medieval curse on the prosecutor, the judge, the jury foreman, and the actual killer—the four men responsible for his fate. Profoundly shaken by the condemned prisoner’s words, a young couple looking on believes Stevenson’s declaration of innocence. And their determination to uncover the truth only intensifies when two more deaths follow in quick succession.
In Aunt Helen, the seemingly civilized residents of a stately English country house keep secrets about love, marriage, adulthood, and desire hidden behind closed doors—until the “perfect murder” threatens to expose them.
First published in 1971
In The Assize of the Dying, there is a supernatural element, sort of, when the falsely accused hexed the judge, prosecutor, jury foreman, and the killer during the assize that if he dies in jail, all four will also die. He killed himself and all four people he cursed died one by one. There is a contrived romance in the novelette.
In Aunt Helen, I guessed who the villain is right away.
Most Loving Mere FollyA pair of artists is undone by jealousy and despair on the outskirts of London
In a forgotten suburb of London recently leveled by German bombs, an artists’ colony has taken root. Theo Freeland spent the war painting, studiously avoiding danger, while his wife, Suspiria, made pottery during the day and drove ambulances at night. But now the war is over, and Theo spends his time drinking himself into a stupor while Suspiria tolerates him as best she can. She has her work, and that’s enough. After all, she and Theo are promised to each other—till death do they part. Death, as it happens, is right around the corner.
Suspiria’s life changes forever the night her husband is helped home by Dennis Forbes, a strapping young mechanic who can’t take his eyes off the drunkard’s wife. When Theo is later found poisoned, and Suspiria claims Dennis as her own, the village turns on them. But the real tragedy is yet to come.
Suspiria at 36 is 14 years older than Dennis and she is already married. Still, they fall in love a la Vronsky and Anna.. Expect tragic outcome. Poor Karenin, I mean Theo.
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Ellis Peters, the author of the Brother Cadfael mystery novels set during the medieval period, is the penname of Edith Pargeter. She is my favoritest author and her The Heaven Tree Trilogy sits at Number One on my favorites fiction books list.
Thursday, March 21, 2024
Beauty And Mr. Romantic
Park Do-Ra (Im Soo-Hyang) is an A-list actress, but a case causes her to fall to the bottom. Go Pil-Seung (Ji Hyun-Woo) is a rookie drama series PD. He falls in love with Park Do-Ra and he tries to bring her back to the top.My weekend might get busy again watching this new 50 episode Korean drama starting on March 23. The queen of Korean revenge dramas Im Soo-Hyang stars so I have to watch her in a romcom series. I hope there won't be any revenge and the writer doesn't drag the story or add the ever annoying amnesia.
Monday, March 11, 2024
The Signal
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
The Daughter of Time
Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant is feeling bored while confined to bed in hospital with a broken leg. Marta Hallard, an actress friend of his, suggests he should amuse himself by researching a historical mystery. She brings him some pictures of historical characters, aware of Grant's interest in human faces.
He becomes intrigued by a portrait of King Richard III. He prides himself on being able to read a person's character from his appearance, and King Richard seems to him a gentle, kind and wise man. Why is everyone so sure that he was a cruel murderer?
With the help of other friends and acquaintances, Grant investigates Richard's life and the case of the Princes in the Tower, testing out his theories on the doctors and nurses who attend to him. Grant spends weeks pondering historical information and documents with the help of Brent Carradine, a likable young American researcher working in the British Museum.
Using his detective's logic, he comes to the conclusion that the claim of Richard being a murderer is a fabrication of Tudor propaganda, as is the popular image of the King as a monstrous hunchback.I have never been interested in reading any books written by Josephine Tey until now because all the new mystery/crime novels are garbage. Well, the Daughter of Time published in 1951 is almost as nonsense as the current novels coming from the U.K. In 1990 it was voted number one in The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time list compiled by the British Crime Writers' Association. In 1995 it was voted number four in The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time list compiled by the Mystery Writers of America.
Friday, February 9, 2024
A Killer Paradox
Saturday, January 27, 2024
Fast X
Monday, January 8, 2024
The Bad Weather Friend
Benny is so nice they feel compelled to destroy him, but he has a friend who should scare the hell out of them.
Benny Catspaw’s perpetually sunny disposition is tested when he loses his job, his reputation, his fiancée, and his favorite chair. He’s not paranoid. Someone is out to get him. He just doesn’t know who or why.
Then Benny receives an inheritance from an uncle he’s never heard of: a giant crate and a video message. All will be well in time. How strange—though it’s a blessing, his uncle promises. Stranger yet is what’s inside the crate. He’s a seven-foot-tall self-described “bad weather friend” named Spike whose mission is to help people who are just too good for this world. Spike will take care of it. He’ll find Benny’s enemies. He’ll deal with them. This might be satisfying if Spike wasn’t such a menacing presence with terrifying techniques of intimidation.
In the company of Spike and a fascinated young waitress-cum-PI-in-training named Harper, Benny plunges into a perilous high-speed adventure, the likes of which never would have crossed the mind of a decent guy like him.Amazon Prime First Reads for the first time ever offers one great book and possibly one good book to start the year.
Thursday, December 7, 2023
Best Book Review
Friday, November 24, 2023
My Demon
A demon Jeong Gu-won is superior to humans in every way, but when he loses his powers, he will have to work with a chaebol heiress Do Do-hee to recover them, and romance begins to bloom in this process.